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09/08/2023

🥗 Today's from and is all about FOOD.

😋This is awesome cause today's prompt is FAVORITE SUBJECT, and I think food fits there too! Give me all the culinary cozies, cookbooks, cooking classes, home economics, and of course LUNCH!

STARTER
Bread: Hard Dough Homicide by Olivia Matthews

BEVERAGE
Wine: A Pairing to Die For by Kate Lansing (BONUS points for the gorgeous fall cover 😍)

FRUIT
Apples: The Diva Cooks the Goose by Krista Davis

VEGETABLE
Vegetable shish kebabs: Revenge of the Barbecue Queens by Lou Jane Temple

ENTREE
Chili: The Big Chili by Julia Buckley

DESSERT:
Assorted cookies and cakes: And Then There Were Crumbs by Eve Calder

I've read all of these except Hard Dough Homicide and they are all excellent. And have lots of descriptions of food, and many have recipes included, too.

09/07/2023

❓️Do you read reviews or other information about books before you read them❓️

👻 I must have read enough to put this on my TBR, but reading it now, I don't remember anything about the book. So I am discovering things along with the cast of characters.

📚 I love how different these covers are-British and American. Bet you can't guess which is which 🤣

🪦 Also, this title sounds like the cozy mystery version of Great Expectations (its not, so far.)

Currently Reading

09/06/2023

🥳 Happy Birthday to all of my friends at A Cozy Engagement !

🎉 I missed posting yesterday for Birthday Party so I'm going to count this as a two-fer since Maddie makes a lot of cakes, including one for a character that helps her out with sleuthing. A Slice of Murder anyone?

🍰 This series is a lot of fun. The combination of well-developed characters, the small town setting, social media posts, Baby, and a baker who is still learning to bake makes for good reading. Add in a fairly complicated murder investigation, and you've got a great cozy mystery.

🏆There's still time to enter to win your own copy in their stories.b

(I just discovered that Valerie Burns shared the recipe for soul cake, and if it weren't after 11, I'd be tempted to make it now: https://teatimemagazine.com/indulge-delectable-delights-intrigue-baker-street-mysteries-return-murder-piece-of-cake/ )

09/04/2023

🎬 Today's prompt from is:

Sunday Cinema

🎥 Inspired by post about cozies that would make great movies, I'm highlighting this delightful first in a cozy series that is coming to a small screen near you later this month.

🎶 Haunted Harmony Mysteries: Murder in G Major premieres on on September 22: A new teacher at an Irish prep school is shocked to find a ghost haunting her house. She decides to help solve his murder in the hopes that it will allow him to move on.

📚 There's still time to read (or reread) the book before the premiere. It's also perfect for spooky season. A special mass market edition is available from

08/27/2023

📚 Another week, another set of cozy deals.

https://cozymysterychallenges.com/cozy-deals-08272023

❤️ Lots of cozy favorites like Rhys Bowen, Mia Mansala, Lee Hollis, London Lovett, and Ellery Adams. Plus deals on many more that may become favorites.

08/25/2023

The website Goodreads has become an essential avenue for building readership, but the same features that help generate excitement can also backfire.

08/23/2023

🌡It's 95 outside but feels like Christmas with so many great titles out today!

3 first in a new series, 2 quozies (q***r cozies), 2 second in a series, 1 spooktacular contribution to a long running series.

🏡 The Body in the Back Garden by Mark Waddell

🍬 Catch Me if You Candy by Ellie Alexander

👰 Wedding Bride and Doom by Mary Karnes

🎲 Board to Death by CJ Connor

🌙 The Dark Edge of Night by Mark Pryor

🏙 Mugshots Over Manhattan by Christin Brecher

❓️Are you planning to read any of these ❓️

08/20/2023

😊 Happy Sunday!

🕵‍♂️ I curate a selection of cozy mystery deals most weeks over at

📚 I try to include a variety of titles, series, and authors, so there's something for everyone.

👀 Check out this week's list: https://cozymysterychallenges.com/cozy-deals-08202023

08/19/2023

❓️How many books do you read at one time ❓️

🥵 Happy weekend! The heat hasn't broken here in Texas, but my reading slump has. 😂 Thank you Kristy Woods Harvey for the fabulous The Summer of Songbirds ⬅️

Susan from and I know my slump is over because I want read ALL THE BOOKS. I also believe this is one way to read more. Pick different genres and formats, and switch when you change activities or keep a bed book, a purse book, a work bag book. At first you'll feel like your not reading more. And then you will finish several books close together...

📚 I'm reading:

🎧 Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life by Dacher Keltner

🎧 The Diva Digs Up the Dirt by Krista Davis

📱The Dark Edge of Night by Mark Pryor

📱 The Legacies by Jessica Goodman

(I highly recommend The Summer of Songbirds, a wonderful story about female friendship, romance, summers past and present.)

❓️What are you reading this weekend ❓️ Drop it in the comments below ⬇️ Or head over to our stories and let us know.

08/09/2023

❓️Remember a few weeks ago when I asked what's something that gets you to pick up a cozy❓️

My name is Susan, and I like cozies with a movie theme 😁

🎬 Happy Pub Day to Gayle Leeson and We'll Always Have Murder, the first in the new Movie Memorabilia Mystery series.

🎞 The art of deception takes center stage.

🎥 Dina and Patty, two sisters with a shared love for the arts, find themselves entangled in a real-life mystery that mirrors the intrigue of the stage. Dina, the proud owner of a quaint movie memorabilia shop, and Patty, a talented director at the Skillet Ridge Reparatory Theater, are shaken when Imelda, an older actress starring in Patty's latest production of Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park, is brutally murdered.

⬅️ Swipe to see more cozies featuring movies and films that I've enjoyed:

Final Cut by Marjorie McCown

Fatal Fudge Swirl by Meri Allen

Cherry Cheesecake Murder by Joanne Fluke

A Murder Like No Author by Amy Lillard

A Killing in Costumes by Zac Bissonnette

❓️Are there other cozies featuring movies or films I should look for ❓️

🎬

07/28/2023

❓️Am I becoming a person who reads nonfiction 😱❓️

The short answer is yes. The longer answer is that I've always been a nonfiction reader, but it's not what I gravitate towards (except cookbooks). And yet I read nonfiction and often love it. And it challenges me, changes me. But I need a push, a recommendation, what should I pick up?

📚 For my day job, I'm a dean at a community college. A few weeks ago, our campus president asked for some suggestions for a campus read for the coming academic year. I spent a weekend looking at the best books of the year so far and sent her a list. This book was NOT on it, but it was on the longer list I made for myself.

On the surface, Excellent Advice for Living: Wisdom I Wish I'd Known Earlier, full of bite-size pieces of advice sounds like the book you buy for a graduate. I wasn't sure I wanted to read it. But it's really short, so when my hold on the audio came in, I decided why not? I listened to it. And then I did something I never do-I turned around and immediately listened to it a second time. Somehow, the way that Kelly has chosen to distill down his advice, the order each piece is presented, the way so many resonated with me, made me think, and made me feel hopeful.

📖 And now I want to do something else. I rarely do-buy a physical copy. I want to hold this book in my hands. I want to pull it off the shelf at a random time, open it to a random page, and read the advice written there.

P.S. I shared this with our president, and now it's on the list as a possibility.

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